The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 890: What is Confidence

The punch sent ripples through the bridge piers. Qilin skipped across the river's surface before carving a shallow ditch through the damp shoal. His collision with the levee spread spiderweb cracks across the concrete wall.

The blow's recoil pushed Wang Zikai and Zhang Wei toward a half-crumbled pier. Landing safely, Wang Zikai stared at his fist in wonder. "Zhang Wei! I just punched Qilin!"

"Yes!" Zhang Wei maintained his Confidence. “As expected of the number 0 Talent, Destiny! Even Dragon would bow before you, let alone Qilin!”

"Hahahaha!" Wang Zikai's confidence soared. What a shame Gao Yang isn't here—he'd be blinded by my awesomeness!

"You're incredible, God Kai!" Zhang Wei pressed their advantage. "Let's go! Kill Qilin!"

"Kill Qilin! Wait, no, God can't kill people. It's beneath me..."

"Don't worry, God Kai. Leave the dirty work to me!" Zhang Wei drew his Black Gold gun, remembering Gao Yang's instruction that Wang Zikai must never kill humans. "Just knock him out. I'll end him after!"

"No problem!"

Wang Zikai bounded across the bridge piers toward the riverbank.

...

It had been Gao Yang who'd arranged their unlikely partnership. They were his final ace.

He'd preferred to keep Wang Zikai from close combat with Qilin unless absolutely necessary. The combo's success had been theoretical; there were no guarantees.

The strategy had begun taking shape the night Heavenly Dog acquired Requiem. It had given Gao Yang the chance to test a long-held theory about Zhang Wei's Confidence granting resistance to psychic Talents.

Before the Nine Scions allied with the Twelve Zodiac Signs, they'd lacked access to Psyche-type Talents for testing. That night, Gao Yang had Heavenly Dog and Zhang Wei share a room, instructing Heavenly Dog to sing.

With Psychic Armor and a Charisma close to 3000, Gao Yang easily resisted level 1 Requiem, yet Zhang Wei fell asleep immediately.

Though disappointed, Gao Yang hadn't abandoned his theory. After developing their initial strategy, he'd called Zhang Wei for a private conversation about his early awakening from the Poison of Hell and his superior poison resistance.

Zhang Wei had described that night during the Crimson Tide in detail. Collapsed from poison, his terror of death had driven him to deceive himself repeatedly, or perhaps it could be considered self-suggestion.

The poison won’t kill me. The poison won’t kill me. The poison won’t kill me...

He'd chanted this internal mantra until consciousness fled. Since then, he'd noticed his heightened poison resistance.

After consideration, Gao Yang casually remarked, "Doesn't Confidence grant immunity to Psyche-type Talents, too?"

"Huh? Really?" Zhang Wei blinked in confusion.

"Yeah, when Heavenly Dog sang, you resisted for more than ten seconds before falling asleep," Gao Yang lied. "Regular people fall asleep in less than five."

"For real?" Zhang Wei's eyes lit up, his confidence rising.

"Of course. I'm the Divine Scion. I have a good eye for this." Gao Yang continued weaving his fabrication. "You know about my Lucky, right? It's a passive Talent that's more useful than it seems. One ability gives me insight into people. Your Confidence may seem useless, but it's incredibly powerful—granting immunity to poison, illusion, and psychic damage."

"However, your Talent needs pairing with others, like my Lucky. Alone it's limited, but combined with more Talents, Confidence becomes incredible."

"Oh, you're absolutely right!" Zhang Wei absorbed the words like divine wisdom.

"Of course. You'll rival my strength soon enough." Gao Yang sealed his manipulation with an approving smile and shoulder pat.

After that conversation, Zhang Wei lay awake until dawn, his mind racing with possibilities.

The next day afternoon, Gao Yang asked Heavenly Dog to sing to Zhang Wei once more. Zhang Wei concentrated on resisting, but fell asleep in about ten seconds.

Did I guess wrong? Gao Yang wondered silently, watching Zhang Wei. Is he really just trash?

Heavenly Dog gave the snoring man a thumbs-up. "Cool."

"That's cool, too?" Gao Yang asked, both exasperated and amused.

"My Requiem is level 2 now," Heavenly Dog explained. "Zhang Wei's improved."

Understanding dawned on Gao Yang.

He'd been right. Zhang Wei's Confidence operated entirely in the subjective realm. Whatever he believed he could do, he could achieve to some degree.

Over the next two days, Gao Yang's experiments yielded a working theory: Confidence granted immunity based on its owner's self-belief. The stronger the confidence, the more powerful the effect.

The results of the experiments were as followed:

Poison Damage: medium resistance

Elemental Damage: low resistance

Physical Damage: low resistance

Psychic Damage: close to full resistance

Spiritual Damage: unknown

When Gao Yang shared these findings, years of confusion and self-doubt lifted from Zhang Wei's shoulders. His newfound certainty crystallized his Confidence. In their next test, he remained completely alert through Heavenly Dog's level 3 Requiem.

Gao Yang pushed further, testing Confidence's limits. Could the immunity extend to others?

After two days of experimentation, he discovered something incredible: Zhang Wei could implant suggestions through Confidence.

The process required constant proximity—day and night of repeated suggestion to grant others a measure of resistance. While not matching Zhang Wei's immunity, the effect proved substantial.

This revelation sparked Gao Yang's boldest strategy. He assigned Zhang Wei to shadow Wang Zikai, continuously reinforcing one crucial belief: He was God, immune to Eidos.

Zhang Wei threw himself into the task. He studied brainwashing techniques from business scam videos, carefully observing Wang Zikai's responses to different forms of praise. Finally, he identified the trigger phrase that affected Wang Zikai like a potent drug:

God Kai.

Zhang Wei immediately linked this phrase to Eidos immunity, methodically conditioning Wang Zikai to believe in his divine imperviousness to psychic control.

But Eidos was no Requiem. There were no guarantees their psychological armor would hold against Qilin's power.

Hence the primary strategy: War Tiger would occupy Qilin's puppet while concentrated attacks overloaded Surnamed Li's Prophet. Wang Zikai would then strike with his bone stings at the perfect moment.

If the mission failed, they would retreat—unless companions needed help. Then the Confidence Duo would risk everything in direct confrontation with Qilin to cover their escape.

Success could turn the tide of battle. Failure meant death for both Wang Zikai and Zhang Wei.

The possibility of losing them haunted Gao Yang, but leadership demanded such choices. Everyone here risked their lives equally. No one, not even Gao Yang himself, could be considered special.

He held Lithe Snake's lesson close: a leader's duty was to ensure ultimate victory, not momentary mercy.